The present invention relates to artificial (prosthetic) spurs applied to the legs of male chickens, i.e., roosters or cocks, used in the sport of cockfighting. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved design for a cock spur constructed of plastic material, and method for making the same.
Cockfighting is an immensely popular sport in Puerto Rico and a number of other territories and countries in Latin America and the Carribean. In Puerto Rico, for example, cockfighting is sanctioned and controlled by the government, and contributes significantly to the local economy. The sport is also popular and legal within several states of the United States. Cockfighting is a sport which is rich in history, lore and tradition.
To gain competitive advantage, game cocks are bred and raised to optimize their fighting ability. For the same reason, it is accepted practice to equip game cocks with prosthetic spurs which replace the often smaller less effective spurs that develop naturally on the backsides of the game cock's legs. This replacement is also desirable to provide a degree of spur uniformity (and hence fairness) amongst fighting cocks since natural spurs vary greatly in size and shape. Prosthetic spurs are typically prepared by skilled artisans from chicken spurs that have been removed from birds specially bred and raised for that purpose. The spurs are formed in a variety shapes and sizes to suit the particular tastes of the artisan and/or competitor. To raise a bird to the point that its spurs can be used takes about eight months. Then, the spurs must be removed and a painstaking manual cleaning, compressing and forming process performed to produce a custom set of prosthetic spurs (or "postizas" as they are known in Latin America). Accordingly, the cost of such spurs is very high, perhaps currently $175 on average. Prosthetic spurs have, to a lesser extent, also been custom made from other bone-like animal by-products such as turtle shell and turkey spurs.
All such custom spurs are very expensive, and no two sets of spurs will be exactly alike. Varying degrees of strength, durability and fighting effectiveness of the spurs will be achieved depending on the starting material and custom forming process utilized, and the skills and tastes of the artisan. The expense of and variation in quality among custom made spurs has an undesirable impact on the sport. Many persons are precluded from participation in the sport due to the high cost. An inequity arises in that not all competitors will be able to afford the high price of premium quality custom spurs, and thus certain persons will be at a competitive disadvantage due to their lesser financial status. Furthermore, the inherent unavoidable differences among custom spurs can have a significant impact on the outcome of a fight, so that the outcome may not accurately reflect the competing birds' true relative fighting abilities.
Another problem encountered in the sport of cockfighting is the unsportsmanlike and illegal use of chemicals, e.g., drugs and poisons, applied to or inserted in the prosthetic spurs of the fighting cocks in order to gain a competitive advantage. Since custom made bone spurs are not transparent (at best natural spurs are semi-transparent or translucent) and are irregular in color (colors within a given spur, and from spur to spur, can range from black to white), the use of illegal chemical is often difficult to detect.
Attempts have been made to produce and promote artificial cock spurs made from non-organic materials such a metal and plastics. Heretofore such spurs have not been widely accepted.
Benbow U.S. Pat. No. 2,694,254 discloses a steel gaff to be applied to the spur of a fighting cock, with provision made for adjusting the angle of the gaff during the course of a cockfight. Metal gaffs have been used for cockfighting to some degree in the United States since the 17 th century. The practice has never been accepted to any significant extent in Puerto Rico and Latin America.
Hernandez U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,686 discloses a prosthetic spur made of aluminum. This spur has had some acceptance in the states of Florida, Louisiana and Texas. However, in Puerto Rico and Latin America there is a strong resistance to the use of metal on fighting cocks and thus the use of metal spurs has not caught on there.
Many followers of the sport are of the opinion that a metal spur causes more damage than a bone spur and that a special type of cock is required for their use. Another problem that arises with the use of metal spurs is the possibility of fraud and deception, e.g., by competitors who would attempt to pass off their game cock as being equipped with aluminum spurs when, in fact, it is equipped with spurs made from a much harder metal such as titanium steel (that would confer an unfair competitive advantage). Still another problem that arises from the use of metal spurs is the difficulty in detecting illegal spur adulterations, due to the opaque appearance of the spur material. For example, in addition to the problem with illegal chemicals as described above, the inventors are aware of an instance where batteries were inserted into spurs so that upon contact the spurs would cause an electrical shock to paralyze the opposing rooster.
Fuentes, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,224,412 discloses a prosthetic spur formed of molded and cured fiber-reinforced thermoset plastic resin such as epoxy. The molding process is extremely labor intensive and time consuming. For example, glass fibers must be manually arranged within a mold, then liquid resin is manually poured into the mold over the fiber. Next, the resin must be allowed to cure for a number of hours at controlled temperatures.
The Fuentes, Jr. spurs never achieved widespread acceptance. While the spurs had some cost advantage over custom made bone spurs, their expense was still necessarily quite high due to the labor and time required to produce each spur. Furthermore, the manual nature of the process undoubtedly made it very difficult to produce spurs of uniform quality on a mass production basis.
Most significantly, the Fuentes, Jr. spurs and similar fiber reinforced spurs produced by others do not have sufficient strength characteristics to withstand the rigors of a cockfight. In particular, it was found that such spurs were quite brittle and would frequently break or fall apart (particularly in the area of the pointed tip) during the course of a fight. These spurs are also susceptible to illegal tampering since their creamy substantially opaque appearance makes detection of illegal chemical and other adulterations difficult.
Great advances have been made in recent years in the development of high performance engineering thermoplastics (ETPs) which exhibit substantially improved mechanical and other properties as compared with the so-called work horse grade engineering thermoplastics, and non-engineering thermoplastics such as the commodity resins polystyrene and polyethylene. A particularly outstanding high performance thermoplastic which has been in use since 1982 is polyetherimide (PEI) resin. As described in the standard industry text Engineering Plastics, vol. 2, pg. 156 (American Society of Metals ed,, 1eg. 1988), PEI resins are primarily used in the automotive, electrical/electronic, packaging, aircraft, industrial and medical fields. Other uses are as appliances and hardware, and in the field of fluid engineering.